


Lights Will Guide You Home

by mws



Series: Fix You [1]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mature rating because it'll eventually be applicable, Possible Spoilers, Writing as I get inspired by missions, just watch the notes for what mission, no set plot, zombies!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:59:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8910004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mws/pseuds/mws
Summary: For once, Sam Yao had no idea what to say - and not even silly babble would ease the tension Five had unintentionally created.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Basically writing some one-shots as I get inspired by missions. This first one is S1M7, A Voice in the Dark. 
> 
> Taking some liberties with the original plot of ZR!, in that I'm far enough to (possible spoilers if you aren't past season 1??) know that Patient Zero was caused in their universe. This implies that it started elsewhere. I'll probably trace back into the original plot eventually, but yeah. 
> 
> My Runner Five will remain the same in each one-shot unless otherwise noted. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!

Quite frankly, he was a mess. Stuck in the comms shack while his runner was God only knows where, after a failed mission that he tried, no, FOUGHT to have reversed. 

It had been a trap. Flood lights all over Five, gunshots as she ran through and somehow managed to dodge the thirty New Canton residents that surrounded her. And then she disappeared from the scanner. And it’s been hours now, and nothing. 

“Runner Five,” He spoke into the mic, sighed, shook his head, and sighed again. “God, Runner Five. I don’t know if you can hear me. I guess...I guess I don’t even know if you’re alive. I mean, odds aren’t good, right?” 

He ran a hand through his hair and just about ripped the headset from his ears. What was the point? She was either alive or dead, but if he couldn’t see her on the scanners then there was only a ten - maybe fifteen percent chance that she could hear him at all. And if she could, it’d be broken and static. 

Blinking tears from his eyes, he continued talking. “I’m just going to stay right here. I’m with you, Five. I hope you’re still with me.” 

He mused about the stupidest of things at times - ice cream rolls, trying to remember how they were made. He broke down and spoke of his parents, his sister - how he knew his parents were dead. “I just...when this all hit, I was with them, and…” He trailed off, sighing for the millionth time that evening. A knock on his door briefly distracted him, and he sighed again before returning to the mic. “Runner Five, they’re telling me I should go to bed soon - they have to bar the gates, the horde is getting too close and...God, Five, if you can hear me just…” 

He stared at the screens in shock. Not at the number of undead approaching - that was nothing new - but at the shape moving faster than them. “R-runner Five? Five! Oh my God, RUNNER FIVE!” He was yelling, jumping, knocking things from his desk and his chair toppled over. “Run. Run run run run run!” He was shouting, “RAISE THE GATES!” He screamed. “Runner Five - you did it. You - you’re home!” He ripped the headset off and sprinted out of the comms shack and down to the gates, where Runner Five was collapsed on the ground. “Five!” 

“Stay back, Mr. Yao,” Janine ordered. “We have to check first,” She shook her head at the protest on his face and answered before he could verbalize it, “She was out a long time, it’s precaution.” 

Five’s knife was a few feet away from her. It was so caked in grime and guts and blood, it was barely recognizable as a knife. Tears stung the corner of his eyes - she always insisted on taking that with her. _“I’ll check it in at the front after every mission, but I will not leave the township without it.”_ He remembered her saying on her first night in Abel. 

“Clear,” Maxine said, also near tears. “She’s clear, Janine.” 

That’s all Sam needed. He rushed over and helped her up. “Let’s get you to -”

“Sam,” She smiled. “Comms shack?”

“You and I need about eighteen hours of sleep, Five…” He shook his head.

“You said,” She took a deep breath, still trying to catch all the air she could manage after sprinting that last push to the gates. “You said we don’t know each other well.”

His eyes widened. “You could hear me, then?” 

She nodded. “I want you...I want you to know me. To…” Her voice faltered slightly, and she swallowed hard. “To remember me.”

“Oh, Five, I -” Sam hadn’t realized it, but he had guided her up to the comms shack as she requested. “I was just upset, and I...I didn’t...well, you know how much I love the sound of my own voice, Five. I’m so sorry, if I had known you could hear me, I - I would’ve been more inspiring, and less…”

She laughed quietly as he opened the door and helped her over to the small futon in the corner of the room. He watched her silently as she sat and stared at her lap, before looking up at him and motioning for him to sit next to her. He hesitated, glanced at the scanners - he didn’t have a mission to run for the remainder of the night. With exception of this one, they never ran night runs. He sighed and sat down next to her. 

“I was engaged,” She said suddenly, breaking the silence. Sam opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out - so she continued. “I know he’s dead though.” She wasn’t looking at him, instead staring at her hands in her lap. “He - he was talking to me when it happened.” 

Sam’s mouth immediately closed. For once, he had no idea what to say - and not even silly babble would ease the tension Five had unintentionally created. 

“You know how - how before it got bad, there was still cell service and everything?” She continued when he nodded. “I’m not sure if my lack of an accent gave this away,” She chuckled, “But I was on vacation here with a friend, when it hit in the States. I couldn’t get home, and he called when he got holed up. It was...it was so bad there, Sam, before it even really became a thing here.” There were tears streaming down her face now, yet she somehow managed to still speak. “He was holed up, and he couldn’t get out, and he said that he loved me and that he needed me to survive and I asked if he wanted me on the phone and he said yes and I told him I loved him and then there was a gunshot and he was gone.” She was speaking fast, and he didn’t know what to do but reach for her and she fell into his arms. 

“Five, I don’t…” Sam couldn’t speak. What was he supposed to say after all of that? That wasn’t like him telling her about his sister. This was raw, she knew her fiance was gone, she witnessed it and it haunted her every single day and night. 

“You got me home,” She said, lifting her head to look up at him. “You both got me home.” She whispered, her voice breaking. 

He gently rubbed her back, allowing her to just cry into his sweater. “He would be so, so incredibly proud of you and your survival, Five. And I...I need you to survive, too.” He said quietly, resting his chin on top of her head. “Five, this was without a doubt, one of the worst nights of my life, both pre and post apocalypse.” 

She was shivering, which only made him hold her tighter. “I heard you. I heard you.” Her grip on his sweater tightened, “I can’t…” 

The silence lingered for awhile, as Five silently sobbed against Sam. He wanted to know what she couldn’t do or say, but didn’t want to press anything - not now, anyway. 

“Sam,” She finally said, sitting up and out of his arms. He kept one hand on her shoulder as she spoke. “You look terrible,” She laughed. He stared at her a moment before joining in the laughter, and he shook his head. “You aren’t exactly a model right now, Five.” He grinned as she laughed more, but he had lied. Five was attractive, even covered in grime and blood and hair a mess and eyes red and swollen from crying so hard and so long. She was his runner. 

“Can I sleep here tonight, Sam? I can’t...I don’t want to be alone. I was alone for so long before Abel, and ever since you, I’ve never...I’ve never had to be alone, even on that run.” She looked at him, her lower lip trembling like she was about to break down again. 

“Hey, yeah, of course - my comms shack is your comms shack,” He stood and moved across the room to grab pillows and a blanket that were shoved in the corner. “Do you want to clean up a little first?” He asked, half hesitantly. The blankets and pillows were clean, whereas Five definitely wasn’t. 

She laughed, “God, I almost forgot. Yeah, I’m uh - I’ll go to the showers. I’ll be back though?”

“Yeah, yeah,” He smiled. “I’ll be here waiting,” He briefly hesitated, then reached out to grab her hand before she opened the door. How often had he hesitated with his emotions just because of the world they lived in? “Five, I’ll always be here waiting.”

She turned and smiled at him. Nothing could heal the hurt of losing her fiance. Nothing could heal any of what’s happened - but it was happening, and it was their reality now. She exhaled a small sigh and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, “Sam, I’ll always come back.”


End file.
